What if the Crowd is Wrong: Six Debatable Propositions about the Future of Healthcare and What They Mean for Strategy “Everyone knows” what the future of US healthcare looks like. It’s unanimous! We’re moving from “volume to value”. We’re shifting from “treatment to prevention”. Integrated Delivery Networks (IDN’s) are the future of healthcare organization. “Disruptive technologies” will undermine the traditional businesses of hospitals and physicians. And empowered consumers will force the health system to be accountable for the cost of care and move healthcare markets.
This talk asks the provocative question: what if these things don’t actually happen? Where does it leave healthcare systems, professionals, insurers and vendors? How would your strategy change if the future actually turns out to be different from what “everyone” expects. Jeff Goldsmith talks about the future of healthcare payment and delivery reform, how it is affecting local markets around the US and talks about the “no regrets” strategies that position healthcare’s major actors for an uncertain, post-health reform future.

The Tragedy of Health Reform: Despite compelling unmet needs,
the bold health reforms enacted in 2010 in the Affordable Care Act appear to be faltering. A lethal combination
of political controversy, flawed design and incompetent implementation have put health reform in peril. What went
wrong? How will the unfolding of expanded health coverage, increased regulation and new models of care and coverage
affect the health system and society? Will employers abandon health coverage and push their employees into the
Exchanges? Will the Exchanges revitalize or destroy private health insurance? How will health reform affect caregivers
and patients? Will the Medicaid program sustain a 20% increase in enrollments? Can or should health reform be saved?
A veteran health policy analyst looks at ObamaCare and looks ahead.

Slouching toward Value: The Future of Health Care Payment: One major theme of
health reform has been to change how healthcare is paid for to reward higher value care. In a $2.8 billion industry,
the uncertainty about future payment models has created confusion about strategic direction in hospitals and systems,
physician communities and health insurers, as well as anxiety among patients and their families. Ironically, a Democratic
health reform has produced Republican outcomes- high degrees of consumer economic exposure, narrowing networks, and a welter
of confusing new choices. Meanwhile, new payment models- pay for performance, bundled payment, accountable care organizations,
patient centered medical homes- have been given fresh impetus. How will all these experiments turn out? How SHOULD healthcare
be paid for? This talk focuses on the winners and losers in the search for more accountable and affordable care, and the models
and strategies that are likely to prevail.

Can Hospitals Survive? Hospital Strategy in a Maturing Market:
After decades of seemingly continuous expansion, hospital inpatient utilization in the United States has fallen for five years in a row. Despite forecasts a decade ago of significant
bed shortages, many hospitals and systems find themselves with excess capacity. At the same time, the uncertainties surrounding ObamaCare and the pressures created by the recession
have stressed hospitals, resulting in declining earnings and increased pressure from physicians and patients. Merger and acquisition activity spiked after 2010’s health reforms,
and continues unabated. How will the private insurance reforms contained in ObamaCare affect hospitals’ financial futures? Can hospital systems that have sought to become “unavoidable”
through mergers survive the transition to narrow network insurance products and rising transparency and consumer choice? Can hospitals survive this transition? How can hospitals become
the “hospitals of choice” in their communities and regions.

NOTE: These topics are all evolving at varying paces,
as new knowledge and analysis becomes available. They are modular, and can
be mixed and matched to respond to client interests and needs. No two versions
of any one topic are the same. Clients are encouraged to frame their own topics
and challenge Mr. Goldsmith to address them.